Survey: Drop in Eastern European antisemitism may be due to Zelenskyy effect

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn(RNS) — A new survey measuring antisemitic attitudes across 10 European countries includes a surprising — and welcome — finding.In the Eastern European countries of Hungary, Poland, Ukraine and Russia, where pernicious stereotypes of Jews have historically been higher, there was a marked decrease in antisemitic attitudes since 2019, when the survey was last fielded.
Among those countries, the decrease was most pronounced in Ukraine — where the percentage of the population harboring antisemitic attitudes fell from a high of 46% in 2019 to 29% in 2023.
Call it the Zelenskyy effect.
“The dramatic improvement in antisemitic attitudes in Ukraine seems linked to the popularity of President (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy, a leader who is both proudly Jewish and public about his heritage,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League, which released the survey Wednesday (May 31).
“While the survey findings do not directly address questions of causality, there’s no doubt that having a Jewish president who is being praised for his response to Russian aggression seems to have affected perceptions of Jews among ordinary Ukrainian citizens,” Greenblatt said in a statement.
Zelenskyy, with his trademark combat boots, khaki pants and green T-shirt, has come to personify the nation’s courage and determination in the face of the Russian assault. As arguably the world’s most famous Jew, he may be contributing to a decline in antisemitic attitudes not only in Ukraine but also in neighboring Poland to the west and Russia to the …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]